Financial Market News

Week of May 1, 2011 thru May 7, 2011

NEW YORK (MNI) - Oppenheimer Holdings' Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. said
it has hired Thomas di Galoma as managing director of U.S. Government
Treasury and Agency Sales on its Government Trading Desk in the Taxable
Fixed Income Department.

He will lead the Institutional U.S. Government Securities sales
effort and report to Lee Cohen, managing director of government trading
and finance, the company said. "Tom brings a complementary distribution
capability to our trading business and I look forward to his
contribution on the desk," said Lee Cohen.

--Treasury Will Press China to Allow Faster Currency Appreciation
--S&ED May 9-10 Not the Place for Major Decisions to be Made

By Heather Scott

WASHINGTON (MNI) - U.S. officials have tried to tamp down
expectations for major breakthroughs to come out of the annual,
high-level talks with China next week, while at the same time
highlighting the effectiveness of the gradual, built-in process.

And while U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has made it clear
that the currency issue remains "fundamental" and he again will be

NEW YORK, May 6 (MNI) - The euro was on the defensive for a second
consecutive day Friday, tumbling sharply vs. the dollar and other
currencies as a fresh round of concerns over Greece sent the euro
tumbling in thin afternoon dealings.

Euro-dollar changed hands at $1.4330 in afternoon dealings Friday,
with the euro in the lower reaches of the day's $1.4315/1.4573 U.S.
hours range. The euro began the day around $1.4525 while awaiting the
April U.S. employment report.

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is an excerpt from the U.S.
Congressional Budget Office's May Budget Review published Friday with
it's estimate for last month's deficit. The U.S. Treasury Department is
scheduled to release its monthly statement May 11:

The federal government incurred a budget deficit of $871 billion in
the first seven months of fiscal year 2011, CBO estimates. That
year-to-date total is roughly $70 billion more than the deficit incurred

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The Obama administration has taken a number of
steps to trigger jobs growth and will continue to do so as it addresses
high teenage unemployment and severe storms which have whipsawed states
in the South, U.S Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said Friday.

Solis, speaking on a conference call with reporters, said the 25%
unemployment rate among teenagers is "concerning", and the
administration has started a summer jobs initiative to try and bring it
down.

NEW YORK (MNI) - The pace of U.S. job creation should accelerate
over the next six months to two years, New York Federal Reserve Bank
President William Dudley said Friday.

"We do expect payroll employment to continue to pick up speed over
the next six months, year to two years," Dudley told reporters following
a morning briefing on the regional economy. "That's something we've
wanted to see happen."

He declined to give a specific forecast on the unemployment rate,
which the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier Friday had ticked

PRINCETON (MNI) - In the week ahead, the first wave of economic
data for the start of the second quarter 2011 continues with retail
sales numbers and some of the inflation indicators. There will also be
an early take on consumer confidence for the month of May.

The pace remains brisk for the release of first quarter earnings
reports.

Economic Data

Just as the April employment report will set the tone for the labor
market in the second quarter, the April numbers on retail sales

NEW YORK (MNI) - New York Federal Reserve Bank President William
Dudley Friday said despite rising headline inflation due to oil and
commodities prices, there are no signs that a 'wage-price' spiral is
forming.

"Measures of inflation expectations overall remain stable," Dudley
said during a morning press briefing on the New York regional economy.
He pointed to a recent New York Fed-sponsored survey that finds "no
evidence to suggest that a wage-price inflation spiral is getting
underway."